The Raven
by Roxanne Morinaka
Summary: (AU) A Beyblade cold war. Main characters Kai and Tala, but most the other main characters will be in their as well.
1. Prologue 1 Look Closer

Disclaimer: If I owned it then Kai would have beat Tyson.

The Raven

Prologue 1 - Look Closer

Two men sat at the table side by side entertaining their guests.

The black haired one laughed and joked, his cat like fangs flashing in the candlelight as he tried to keep the conversation whole and alive.

He wanted to impress these people, they were his superiors and he was hoping to catch their eye for promotion.

He turned and smiled at his partner happily. They looked like such a happy couple

But if you looked closer you might notice that the black haired man continuously tried to hold the two toned mans hand only to be refused.

The evening grew late and soon the guests decided it was time to leave. They were impressed, they'd had their doubts about their colleague since they'd learnt about his sexual preferences. Even more so when he decided to date a foreigner as a lover.

Tonight had gone a long way to allay their fears and they left quite content.

When the door closed on the last guest the guest the black haired man finally let the anger show on his face.

"What is wrong with you?" he asked his voice raised, "Why are you acting like this?"

"I can't do this anymore," answered the two-toned boy flatly.

"Do what?" asked Rei advancing.

The other boy took a slow step backwards. "Don't" he said. He didn't want to fight. It was too late for fighting now.

"So you're afraid of me now?" asked Rei bitterly, "Cut the crap Kaoru you're not scared of anyone, least of all me."

"Just stop it. I'm not going to bother arguing with you" Kaoru recited monotone stepping forward.

"I'm not even worth that to you am I?" asked Rei his voice more controlled, "When did things get this bad?"

The sorrow in the black haired boys eyes made Kaoru's proud shoulders wilt slightly. He had been prepared for a fight even though he had been trying to avoid one.

"It's been like this for a while Rei."

"Do you think that we can fix things?" Rei pleaded. He'd never loved anyone more than he had loved Kaoru. He didn't want to give that up, even when he knew that it was over.

"No." Kaoru's voice didn't sound angry or biter like it had for the last couple of months. His tone was soft and unwavering, as if he was breaking bad news to a small child.

"How did it happen? We were so happy …" Rei muttered mostly to himself reaching his hand towards Kaoru's cheek and watching the other boy flinch away from him. "It was you," he whispered the anger returning twice as strong. "You were why things went bad! Why won't you let me touch you!"

"I don't like to be touched," even Kaoru noticed how empty it sounded when he said it.

"That's not what I've heard," Rei bit out folding his arms across his chest.

"You promised you would never mention that." Kaoru was already tired of this, the only thing keeping him up was pride. He didn't have the conviction to argue with Rei. To him there was nothing to argue you about things were already over.

"You used to let me touch you." Rei remembered , the accusation in his voice even stinging him a little. They had been like starved animals at first, devouring each other night and day. They had been so hungry for each other that they couldn't even make it through dinner without stripping each other and having a quick meal. What was Kaoru trying to say now? That they were full and it was time to leave the feast?

"I didn't used to mind as much." Kaoru half lied, because he hadn't minded the sex that much. It had been the remaining together afterwards, the laying together in bed that had made him uncomfortable.

"Are you having an affair?" Rei asked his voice raising into a slight screech. There had to be someone else it had to be someone else's fault.

"No Rei." Kaoru shook his head sadly, "There is no one else."

"Then why…" Rei started.

"I don't love you anymore… and you… you don't love me. We've been together for three years and I think that it is about time we called it a day."

"But…"

"No Rei, things shouldn't be this hard…we should just stop pretending." Kaoru turned towards the bedroom. "I'm going to pack. I'll find a hotel to stay in tonight."

Rei stood and watched as Kaoru walked into the bedroom and closed the door. He didn't understand, how could they have just woke up one morning and stopped loving each other.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Kaoru pulled out his large beaten suitcase throwing it on the bed and filling it with papers from a hidden briefcase.

When he heard the bang that was Rei leaving the apartment he pulled out a mobile phone.

"Oleg? It's Kai, tell Boris that I have everything he needs and I'll be waiting in the park for extraction." 


	2. Prolgue 2 A Love Without Warmth

Disclaimer; If you actually believe that the characters belong to me I don't want to shatter your illusions.

Prologue 2 - A Love Without Warmth

"I'm sorry," he said impotently sitting on the stairs and facing the front door. He seemed so sad in the end, nothing like how he had been before.

"I've packed my things" said the red head, shifting the packet of frozen peas on his swollen face. "I his them in the cupboard." He was staring at the kitchen door. The other man, the brunette, could not see his face from the stairs.

"I'm so sorry" he repeated. Too tired from his earlier outburst to say much in his own defence.

"You keep saying that." He wanted to get up and leave. He wanted to end it. But he had been hit pretty hard and his head was still reeling.

"I am sorry. Please don't go," he was begging now.  
"And what stay until one of us is dead?" joked the red head humourlessly.

"I love you."

Silence.

"I said I love you," the brunette just above whispered.

For a moment the red head was afraid that things would become violent again. He knew that things had a way of escalating between them, that few things had to be said to provoke a fight.

"No you don't" he said gently. "What you do isn't love."

"I know I've messed things up. But things weren't always like this. I helped you, remember? I took you in when you had no where else to go."

"And I'm supposed to be grateful." It wasn't a question. He was tired. Tired and Dizzy.

"Why shouldn't you?" the brunette almost shouted.

"I've more than paid you back for that by now."

"You little whore. Is that what this was about? Paying me back?" he had stood up during his tirade.

"It doesn't matter anyway" He felt empty.

"You never loved me?" sadness.

"You never loved me." avoidance.

"You never loved me." acceptance.

The brunette sat back down and the silence engulfed them again.

"Where will you go?"

"It's best that you don't know."

"I never meant those things I said earlier…"

"I know." It didn't matter anymore anyway.

"I loved you." They were going in circles, "I really did. I mean in the beginning. But I did. I don't know what changed. What made me want to hurt you."

The red head got up slightly wobbly on his feet, "S'ok I'm sure it was my fault as well."

It didn't take him long to get all of his luggage together. "Goodbye." he whispered as he left the house for the last time.

The moment that Tala was down the road he doubled his pace his face contorting angrily as he remembered the pain in his head. Boris was dead, Boris was so dead. How dare they send him into that psycho's house for a year! What were they thinking? The information he got wasn't even good enough to merit that kind of time frame.

Maybe it was punishment. He flicked out his mobile and retrieved a number from the address book.

"Joey's Pizza" a voice on the other side answered.

"I'll be at the extraction point in ten." Tala ordered and hung up. Why did he always end up with the psycho's? 


	3. Chapter 1 The Mission

Thank you to those people who reviewed (Except Vanessa who should spend more time concentrating on her marriage and less on me.)

Disclaimer: I do not own them and if I did I wonder if I would enjoy the show so much.

Chapter 1 - The Mission

Tala had been waiting for his handler to turn up for debriefing at least half an hour and he was bored. He wanted to get this over with, after all he had been promised some time off (time he sorely needed.)

Ten minutes later the door cracked open and another figure walked in, Tala opened his eyes a little and looked up from where his head had been laying on the desk. He was immediately disgusted. "What are you doing here Kai?" He asked hoping that the younger boy had simply wondered into the wrong room.

Kai made a face and leant against the wall. "They told me to come here for my debriefing so you should go find somewhere else to take a nap."

"Well they told you wrong, so get your stupid 'kiddie porn' arse out of here so the professionals can work. I'm sure Boris wants to see you somewhere." Tala spat smirking.

God he hated Kai. He'd hated the boy since he'd met him some ten years before, Kai was Boris's pet. The raven that they had chosen to do the instruction video, the first thing that every new recruit saw when the entered the Abbey section for 'sex spies'. It was a joke, even now at twenty one Kai seemed barely legal. Tala was sure that the only reason Kai remained so good at his job was the fact that all of their targets were perverts.

"Shut your mouth kid I'm staying until someone important tells me to get out," said Kai evenly closing his eyes and folding his arms. The insult didn't seem to have even touched him.

Tala growled low in his throat but let it go. Kai was the directors grandson what was the point in arguing. There were rumours that Kai had even been born in the Abbey training facility. 'An experiment gone wrong most likely' Tala thought to himself and smirked.

Tala on the other hand had been chosen. It was a great honour to be singled out and asked to join such a prestigious company, he was in a way being asked to serve his country. His family had been painfully poor, now that he earned money they were able to feed themselves and even buy a small used tractor for farming. His youngest brother was even attending a local school.

"Sorry I'm late." declared a tall man in a grey suit as he strode purposefully into the room.

Kai opened his eyes and sat down at the desk next to Tala. He wanted this out of the way quickly so that he would have time to do some combat training by the end of the day. He was sure that he was getting rusty.

"I'm sure that you are both wondering why we have combined your de-briefs," the man started pulling some cardboard folders out of his briefcase and connecting his laptop to the smart board.

Tala and Kai waited patiently trying not to look at each other.

"You have both just come off important mid-term missions for information gathering.  
Kai you were living with Chinese BBA representative Rei Kon for three years. In that time you stole or copied more than two thousand pages of classified documents and downloaded the contents of his laptop onto our secure server at least one a month. In that time you also assassinated four high ranking BBA officials and successfully seduced three visiting ambassadors into compromising black mail photos. Good job.  
Tala you were sent to seduce one of the BBA's PPB Intel agents Michael. Your mission lasted for a duration of one year and quickly became violent. You bugged him and provoked him into fights in order to procure verbal accounts of what he had been doing. As well as using socialising events at colleagues houses to copy important documents. You were working in the heart of enemy territory with a target known for violent behaviour. Well done.  
I would like to congratulate you both on jobs well done."

Kai and Tala nodded in unison. There had to be some reason that they were being forced to endure each others company.

"I have been sent here to brief you on your next mission. I am sorry Tala but your request for annual leave has been denied until further notice."

Tala said nothing. He was not shocked in the least. Just disappointed.

The man clicked on the lap top and a picture appeared on the smart board. "My name is Mr Gorski. I have been borrowed from the BEGA Polish Intelligence sector to help plan your mission."

"Our mission?" asked Tala a sinking feeling in his gut.

"Yes. All will be explained," Mr Gorski said hurriedly before turning to the screen and pointing. "This man is named Hiro Granger and he will be your target."

"You want us to kill him?" asked Tala suspicious.

"No if it was that simple we would have called Bryan out of black ops. We want this man seduced."

Kai nodded and Mr Gorski threw them both a sealed brown file.

"Those will be your identities. You will both enter Japan as students. Kai you are Tooru Fujishima, half Japanese and half French you were named by your Japanese father and spent the first ten years of your life living in Kyoto. When your father died your mother took you back to France where you remained until recently.  
Tala you will be his roommate and friend from France named Claude Hugo. You were born and bred in France and befriended Tooru in an exclusive boys school just outside Paris.  
Anything else that you need to know about your identities will be in the packs."

"So what is our mission?" asked Kai eyes already working at memorising what was on the page and making mental notes to brush up on his French and Japanese.

"You are to go in and seduce Hiro. He is the BBA's head of training and Intelligence, practically Mr Dickenson's right hand man. You pull this of right boys and the war is ours."

"Which one of us is going to seduce him?" asked Tala curiously.

"We have researched his past lovers, the majority of which were male. And placed spies close to the family circle. It was discovered that Kai is the most likely candidate for the seduction, the duration of which has not been decided."

"So what do you need me there for?" asked Tala resentfully, trust them to be giving such an important mission to Kai.

"You will be his field handler and back up. This has to go well and we may need double support."

Tala smirked. Field handler? He got to tell Kai what to do! Even if it was just relaying orders.

Mr Gorski clicked onto the next image and the real briefing began "You will be picked up on Wednesday at 0500 hours by the…" 


	4. Chapter 2 Tooru and Claude

Disclaimer: If I owned them then I would be rich off the toy royalties alone.

Chapter 2 Tooru and Claude.

Tala sat at the kitchen table reading aloud. He had been questioning Kai for close to four hours. "And what is your favourite food?"

"I don't have one. It changes daily."

"Your least favourite food?"

"Sea food. Especially fish."

Kai's tone was bored. He was tired of the questions and so was contenting himself with banging about in the cupboards looking for food. "Tala do you realise that we have no food?"

"So?" asked Tala annoyed. He wanted to go to sleep. He hadn't slept in nearly seventy-two hours, he wouldn't do so however until he knew that Kai had completely memorised his new identity.

"So I haven't eaten in over forty-eight hours. We should go food shopping. It would look strange anyway, imagine if the mark came round and we had no food in our cupboards. Even if we said we ate out everyday it would look weird. It's one of those subconscious warning signs."

God how Kai's know-it-all attitude annoyed Tala. "Fine we'll go shopping." Tala smirked, "After you have memorised everything about yourself Tooru."

Kai smirked and walked towards the kitchen door. "I memorised it all on the plane." He smiled nastily "Photographic memory."

"What!" shouted Tala, his last nerve had been worked into a stump. "Why the hell didn't you say something sooner I've just wasted four hours prepping you!"

"Oh I thought you were doing that so you would remember. You are supposed to be my best friend Claude."

"I wonder how much I would have to pay Bryan to wipe that smirk off that little bastards face" wondered Tala out loud as he followed Kai out of the door.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The walk to the supermarket was quiet. They were both mentally mapping out the area, well that and Tala was sulking.

It sucked. For an indefinite amount of time he would have Kai as his only source of company. He was playing a foreigner, a foreigner with a limited grasp of Japanese. It was insulting as in reality he could speak the language perfectly. He was only really going to be speaking French as 'Claude', it was not a language that he was especially fond of. He would be spending most of his time at home waiting for Kai and making reports…why couldn't they have got anyone else for this special assignment?

When they had reached the supermarket Kai had disappeared with a trolley. Tala got the feeling that this would happen allot. He shrugged and set off to look for the younger boy. He couldn't really complain about the feud. He had started it after all.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Tala walked down the corridors two steps behind Boris to be respectful. He felt honoured, truly honoured to have been chosen for what almost constituted as Government Service.

He had worked hard for the opportunity. He had graduated top out of a class of seventy and passed the 'final test' with flying colours (He hadn't even given that enemy traitor time to scream).

"You should be proud of yourself agent Ivanov. You have been specially chosen to be part of project Raven, it is a very elite department."

"Yes Sir," agreed Tala he had read about the project. It took a very dedicated and intelligent agent to become a Raven. Most could not handle a mission that went on twenty-four hours a day seven days a week. Some went mad.

"You will of course be given special training. I have high hopes for you agent and…agent Hiwitari what do you want?"

Tala looked up and frowned. This child was an agent? Maybe he was still in training. Tala had heard stories of these places adopting children and raising them as soldiers or assassins.

"I have just been debriefed and was told that you wanted to see me." said Kai casually.

Tala was struck immediately by the lack of respect the shorter boy was showing to his superior.

"Oh yes Kai now I remember, go wait in my office…I am just showing this new agent around." Boris turned to Tala, "Agent Ivanov meet agent Hiwitari. He is currently our top Raven."

Tala frowned harder his forehead creasing. This boy was his competition. "He is very young sir."

"Yes well, he has just graduated from being a dirty little secret. He was raised into the position. "

A dirty little secret Tala thought disgusted. So this agent was used to bait paedophilic pollutions and diplomats into black mail situations. Whore.

Tala had taken an instant dislike to the boy that day and had made that very known the next time they had been alone.

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

"Whore" spat Tala the moment he saw Kai leave Boris's office. "IS that how you get all the special missions."

Kai ignored him and carried on walking, his head held high.

Tala became further enraged at the Kai's attitude. "Answer me."

Kai turned and looked at Tala. He looked more bored than insulted. "Why are you calling me a whore when you have just joined the ranks?"

Tala started to see red. Over the past few months he'd seen Kai four times. The way the boy swaned around as if he owned the place really annoyed him. He would not be insulted by some glorified child prostitute!

"you're fucking Boris for all the top missions aren't you?" he accused.

Kai just looked at him, as if he was something he'd just found on the bottom of his shoe.

"Whore."

"A Raven is a whore Tala. They pay you and me and all of them to have sex with these men for information. You can glorify it all you want but it's true." Kai informed him monotone, he sounded like he'd had this conversation a thousand times before.

Tala hated him. He hated the very sight of him. He hated that this child was tainting everything that he'd worked for. He hated the cool and detached way that Kai handled all of his missions….and he didn't understand why.

From that day forward he and Kai had been enemies. After a while Kai even began to bitch back.

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Tala found Kai in the vegetable isle talking to a man in what looked like his mid-twenties. He hung back and watched fully intending on bringing this up in a report later. Agent Hiwitari snuck off and flirted with the natives…

He watched as Kai tried to refuse the guy. Facing away from him and making what looked like short non-committal answers. The guy did not give up and in the end he'd managed to push his phone number into Kai's hand and extract a promise to call.

"Claude!" Kai called when the other man was safely in the distance.

Tala did not look up.

"Bloody amateur," Kai muttered under his breath, "Claude!"

It took Tala a moment to realise he was being called.

"Who was that?" he asked snidely walking over.

"That was Hiro Grainger. The target just asked me out…it was sick he thought he was smooth."

Tala cringed. He'd had guys who thought they were slick before. It always made the operation feel ten times dirtier than it had to.

"Sorry that must suck." Tala nearly choked when he heard the sympathetic words coming out of his mouth.

"Don't pity me." Kai bit out walking back to the trolley and placing some carrots inside.

"I never would." muttered Tala scowling. He couldn't believe Kai had just got a fluke date with the mark.

Note: If I have spelt any names wrong please tell me. Thank you and thank you for the reviews. 


	5. Chapter 3 First Date Already?

Note: If I have spelt any names wrong please tell me. Thank you and thank you for the reviews.

THank you for the reviews and sorry this is so short.

Chapter 3 First Date Already?

Kai put down the phone and sighed. The mission was going far too easily. He liked a challenge.

"I have a date." said Kai walking up to Tala and sitting down. "He wants to see me tonight."

"That was quick." Tala blinked usually it took at least two weeks to make initial contact.

"Well they picked well. I really must be his type" Kai shrugged. "Do you have a game plan about this? You are my handler after all."

"This guy must have really bad taste" Tala replied not lifting his head from the French paper he was reading. "Just go on the date and get him fall in love with you…you know the usual."

"Well thank you for those words of wisdom I can tell that this mission will be a success." drawled Kai lazily. He wasn't really in the mood to be too bitchy. He would save that all for the date.

"Do you think he's attractive?" Kai asked pushing a picture of Hiro that he'd just pulled from the file across the table.

Tala flicked his eyes towards the picture. "I suppose." He said shrugging. His policy at the moment was to ignore Kai unless it was directly about work. It wasn't working to well.

"I think he looks dull." said Kai monotone. He was feeling talkative which was rare. It had been feeling strange since he got the mission. There was something odd about it.

"What time is your date?" asked Tala hoping to get rid of Kai.

"Seven. He wants to meet at the park down the road."

"Why there?"

"I didn't want to tell him where I lived."

"Why? Isn't the point of this that you get him to live with you?"

"If you just met a guy in a supermarket and he practically forced his phone number on you would you tell him where you lived?"

"Good point. What is your plan for this then?"

"Same as usual. Be rude. He seems moral and slightly repressed so he'll go for the bad boy thing. Over time I'll show him some of my 'sensitive side' but still be bad enough that he still finds me attractive. He'll think that he can change me. That I am a tortured soul, he'll kill me with kindness and then argue with me for sex. When the time comes I will start pulling away from him and acting like I did in the beginning."

"Why?"

"Because that is when he lets the real secrets slip. He will do anything to get things back how they were."

"And you?"

"Pull further away. He holds things together with memories and when the time comes I break it to him that he doesn't love me anymore. He feels bad and lets me go, by then we should have what we need."

"And me?"

"Tempt him, make him jealous and if all else fails I'll use you as a 'giggler'"

"You have really thought this one through."

"Nah I just use a template."

"Oh. You should get ready for your date. It is only in two hours and you look like shit." Tala hated that for a while there he was being nice.

"Sure whatever." said Kai leaving the room smiling. A challenge? He may have just found one. Something he could really shove him Tala's face. If he could make Tala love him he could ruin Tala forever. That would teach him who not to call whore.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Kai walked out of the bathroom fully dressed. His top was black and sleeveless, his trousers so low that you should need a permit just to wear them.

"You look like a slut" Tala commented distastefully but he couldn't keep his eyes off the boy. He shook his head. What the hell was he thinking?

Kai smiled and picked up his coat. "See you later." he said in French as he left to meet his date.

Tala hated him. He really did…really. 


	6. Chapter 4 Memories That Scream

Note: I was doing some research about how they train people for swallow and raven missions. As Kai is our resident veteran I thought that we would have a few training memories in this chapter.

Thank you for the reviews and sorry that this took so long. I have been working far too much.

Chapter Four - Memories That Scream

Kai hated to be abandoned, but when they were there he wanted nothing more than to be alone. Their grubby hands making him feel so horribly dirty.

His head ached from how hard he had concentrated on not screaming, or vomiting. How hard he'd had to concentrate on not going mad.

The rain battered the tin roof and he tried to hold on. He'd been told that it would get easier. He'd been told that soon he would be able to separate his mind and his body. That when they were climaxing he would be plotting his next move or making his shopping list, that while their dicks were in his mouth he would be thinking a film he'd just seen on TV or the best way to access their laptops with out them knowing.

They said that in the end the money and the national pride would make it all worth while. He had wanted so much for them to be right, knowing that even if they weren't he would have no choice but to obey orders anyway.

They had shoved him around a bit first and called him names. He could smell the alcohol on their breath, taste it leaking out of their pours.

There had been six of them surrounding him like prey, circling him and touching themselves. So many hands and mouths and tongues…

He had tried to remember the reasons; they had to remove all shame if he was to use his body as a tool, any hesitation meant death; he had to be trained in the art of pleasure in order to ensure their love; he had to follow orders, or he would be dead; he had to stay with them because he had been born in the Abbey and he had nowhere else to go.

They would send him back to his cell soon enough, allow him to recover before the next stage; if he survived this one. He could hear the video cameras re-focusing and zooming in. He and the rest of his class would watch the video's later, everyone making their comments, everyone evaluating his performance. Only fair considering afterwards he would do the same to them.

There was blood on the sheet beneath him and he stung like he had been raped by a baseball bat. When he could walk he'd leave. But he already felt his eye lids drooping, his senses getting fuzzy.

Maybe he could rest a little…rest before it happened again.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"What?" asked Kai somewhat rudely. He'd been spacing out again and hadn't really heard Hiro's question.

"I said that I would like it very much if you met my family Kaoru. We have been dating nearly two months now and I know that they would love to meet you."

Kai nodded. This was real progress a target that allowed you anywhere near there family either trusted you, or was setting a trap.

"Then I guess you'll have to meet my room mate Claude, he'd all I have in the way of family…but his Japanese is not too good…" answered Kai happy to finally be able to drag Tala into the situation.

"He's the one that came in from France with you, yes?" asked Hiro pleased that Kaoru had taken to his suggestion so easily, Kaoru had been quite difficult in the past and there were times when he was sure the other boy hated him and never wanted to see him again. He was glad that they were finally on the right track. He himself had been addicted since their first meeting.

"Yes. Claude has been a great friend to me," Kai said solemnly knowing that Tala was listening through a bug and seated at a café just across the street.

"Oh well I have a French friend named Oliver. I could always invite him too when we meet. It may make him feel more at home and it will mean I can have you all to myself without having to act as translator."

"I'm sure that he would like that very much." agreed Kai laughing inwardly. Time to test how convincing 'Claude' really was he supposed, and another test for 'Kaoru'.

"Tuesday then. You two should drop by the Dojo. We can all have a big meal Oliver is an amazing cook he can prepare you some French delicacies."

Kai tried to hide his disgust. God how he hated French food! "it's a date then." he agreed and with that they continued their lunch.

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"Great." Tala mumbled to himself. "A native. I swear Kai just lives to make my life more difficult."

CCC

End of Chapter (Sorry that it is not long the next one will be longer I promise.) 


	7. Chapter 5 Tell Me Your Secrets

Thank you for the reviews.

The follow piece is from a wire tap/ bug placed in Hiro's room.

Chapter Five - Tell Me Your Secrets

'Are you nervous about tomorrow?'

'No. you've convinced me. I just hope that they like me.'

There was shifting on the bed.

'I've told you before, my family will love you. Especially Tyson, I think he'll really get a kick out of you.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Just that he loves to wind people up. You know you'll be a target.'

'I've changed my mind I'm not coming.'

More shifting.

'Come here.' Kissing sounds. 'They'll love you.'

More kissing sounds.

'I hope you'll like Claude. He's my best friend.'

'I'll try hard to get on his good side.'

'Good. His opinion means allot. He's a good judge of character'

The crisp sound of covers being moved.

'I promise I'll be on my best…what's this scar?'

'What scar?'

'This one on your back.'

'Oh that. It's nothing, I was in a car accident when I was younger.'

'What happened?'

'It's not important.'

'Kaoru please…'

'Fine. When I was seven I was sent to visit my aunt and uncle in Switzerland. We were driving back from the park one day when they hit a patch of icy road and crashed. They died, they say the only reason I survived was that I was asleep in the back. They said that my body was relaxed. I was in hospital for months.'

'I'm sorry.'

'Don't say that. It's not your fault.'

The bed shifted again.

'What about you. You have scars too Hiro.'

'That's just from travelling and work.'

'Work?'

'Yeah things can get rough…training and that.'

'Training? What exactly is it you do? You're always sketchy about it.'

'It's nothing.'

'If it was nothing you wouldn't be avoiding the question.'

'Really it's nothing.'

'You don't trust me.'

'What?'

'If it wasn't important you would tell me. You don't trust me.'

'It's not that.'

'Then what is it?'

'It's just…'

The thump of someone turning heavily.

'Kaoru?'

'Kaoru?'

'Kaoru please…'

The sound of a struggle.

'Kaoru look at me. I'm sorry I do trust you.'

'No you don't. If you trusted me…god I even told you about…just leave me alone.'

'Kaoru I'm sorry… please…It's just that my job is top secret…'

'Like as in Government?'

'No a private company.'

'I don't get it.'

'It has to do with Beyblades.'

'The kids toys?'

'I knew you wouldn't understand.'

'Of course not you haven't explained.'

'Can we not talk about this today?'

Thump.

'Kaoru?'

'Kaoru? Why are you so bothered by this anyway?'

'I feel like you know all about me and I know nothing about you.'

'Fine. I'll tell you all about it. Just not now ok?'

'Kaoru?'

Turning again and the wet sounds of kissing.

'Do you promise?'

'Mmmm Kaoru…what?'

'Do you promise that you will tell me?'

'Mmmmm oh god…yes YES I'll tell you'

'Good. Because I love you and I don't want us to have any secrets from each other.'

'I…ah…oh yes I love you too…god Kaoru I love you.'

The sounds of a mouth working heavily.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Tala shook his head and picked some more noodles out of his instant Ramen.

He turned the dial on his equipment down. Kai would break that Hiro in no time.

Still listening to Kai and his mark screw wasn't his idea of a fun night.

He glanced back at the map on the table. A detailed map of Paris. 


End file.
